Old Man

BANG!

Ace stared with widened eyes at the prison cell that had closed before him.

At this moment his mind was racing with questions.

What about an interrogation?

Trial? No court dates?

Would he not be asked any questions? What about jail?

He was innocent! Was he not even granted the chance of defending himself?

What about all the waiting time people said there was? Why was he already in prison now behind bars just 3 hours after his arrest that the policemen said were just detainment?

Wait, he wasn't even read his fucking rights!!

Ace wasn't at all familiar on the process of prison, but he was 100% sure it shouldn't have went the way it did with him.

…

Back just 3 hours ago.

Despite the officer's kind nature, they were quick to arrest him and his brother, bringing him to the police station.

He now sat handcuffed to a chair in a very large room full of office desks and chairs as the room was filled with busy men and women in police uniforms answering calls and filling papers or typing on keyboards left and right.

He raised his head again as he looked towards the room which read 'Chief's Office' once more as he had done repeatedly since he'd been sat here, ignoring the gazes of those around as he awaited for the return of Mr. kind officer.

Though at this moment he could hear faint yelling coming from the room, which didn't do well to ease his worries at all.

At this moment, he felt his life rested on the hands of these officers.

If this case could be viewed as self defense against an abusuve father, then him and his brother could get away scot-free and would probably be dumped in an adoption home or something.

But if it was treated as murder…

No doubt his brother would be doing double digits and he'd probably be not too far behind as he aided him.

It wasn't the best feeling to have. His story which should've been something epic and worth telling for decades to come, could very well be over before he even got the chance to start.

"This is dirty and you assholes know it!"

Ace raised his head at the familiar voice which was enraged as he saw the kind officer storming out of the room.

Ace's words were stuck in his throat as he saw the officer lower his head in guilt once their gazes met, before looking away and walking past him, heading toward the exit.

Ace was now greatly confused, and even a little afraid.

Not because of the officer leaving, but because of the look of guilt on his face when they looked at each other.

'Why did he have that look?'

Warning bells rang in his head before his gaze was attracted back to the office door, which had been opened again.

Out came an oversized man donned in suit pants and a white undershirt backed by 2 men in police uniforms.

He took a glance at Ace before he nodded his head, to which the officers behind him approached Ace and removed the cuff on his hand.

"Thank you-" Ace sighed in relief only to be stunned as when he went to stand the officer redirected the removed cuff behind Ace and had instead cuffed him from the back this time.

"Wait what's going on." Ace now knew he wasn't being released like he thought. Couldn't they just ask him questions without the cuffs?

"Hm? What do you mean? Of course your under arrest for murder. You'll be going to prison." The oversized man spoke as his dismissive look spoke volumes on how he viewed Ace.

"Hold on. I'm innoc- it wasn't murder, he attacked us first, we were just defending ourselves." Ace had changed his words upon realizing how they'd implicate his brother.

"Wow. The next generation really treats us as fools. There was a witness to the whole thing dumbass."

Ace's heart had once again skipped a beat as his concerns were true, the neighbor lady truly did speak.

"But that's not the truth, she lied. How could I just be taken to prison off that?" Ace's tone had now turned hostile once he realized the man's disdainful tone of voice towards him.

"Get him gone." The man had simply responded as he turned back to his office, not before winking to one of the female officers who quickly understood as she trotted behind him following him into his office, ignoring the yells of Ace who was being dragged downstairs.

Unbeknownst to both Ace and the policemen, the women hadn't told the complete truth.

She heard the scuffle between Ace and his father to which she took a brief look at before returning to her apartment.

It was well known in the complex that Jason was abusive towards his children.

But no one cared to interfere, living in a complex as run down as this one meant you had your own mountain of problems to address. Interfering in the lives of others wasn't a priority.

Not to mention there were even more abusive parents in the complex.

She had once more took to the halls upon hearing the annoying screams of a child.

Only to bare witness to the sight of a collapsed little boy, the bloodied corpse of Jason, and Ace standing over him with a knife in his hand.

The words spoken by Ace were completely tuned out as she was left horrified when their eyes met.

She fled in panic and quickly hid before calling the police upon realizing she was safe.

In her impression, Ace and Jason had broken out into a fight to which Ace had stabbed and killed his father, which was the story she had spun to the cops.

Of course people such as the kind hearted cop knew there was definitely more to the story.

But they were forced by someone to simply charge the boy with murder and throw him in prison, and fabricate the entire case to make it seem legit, which was what had angered the kind policeman.

The process after that had happened in the blink of an eye.

Ace was thrown into a police car to which he was brought to a police van all alone, and then taken to prison where he was given an orange jumpsuit and told a bunch of information and rules which he automatically tuned out in shock.

"For pretty obvious reasons you'll be given a cell to yourself. It's relatively peaceful here so you should be fine long as you keep your head down. And you're a kid so as long as you don't cause trouble there should be no one messing with you. Everyone's at recess right now so take this time to gather yourself."

Ace's still stunned eyes stared at the conflicted expression of the guard who'd just uncuffed him and closed his cell, locking it before leaving.

Ace had stood there for a good 3 minutes before he listlessly walked over to his bed, collapsing onto it as he buried his face in hands.

He laid there, in distraught at how quickly his new life had taken a turn for the worst.

'How much time do I even have?'

This entire situation he was in was fishy. But there was nothing he could about it.

He spent almost 30 minutes wallowing before he sat up.

'As shitty as this situation is. Sitting here depressed won't do shit.' He clenched his fist as he reminded himself of where he was as well as the overpowered cheat he possessed.

Even if they planned on putting him in here till he rotted away, he just simply had to grow stronger, stronger till he could walk out that front gate unbothered.

He gave himself a nod of confirmation as he quickly went to the ground in push-up position.

Filled with ambition, his exhausted body had a sudden rush of energy as he knocked out push-up after push-up.

Not even bothering to count.

"Woah woah what's this? A new guy?"

"Doing pushups with that much energy? He's gotta be fresh hahaha."

"Damn how old is he?"

"He looks like a baby."

"He's cute."

"Quiet the fuck down!"

At some point a line of cuffed prisoners led by officers from the front and back passed by Ace's cell as they spotted him working out with great vigor.

All of their comments, regardless of what they said, were ignored by Ace who had expected this.

Working out felt great to him as he was also thinking to himself as he was exercising.

Allowing for him to greatly calm his mind compared to before. It felt therapeutic.

It went on like this for a few hours as Ace flew through every exercise he could remember and had the means to do, finding himself more energetic after each one as he tuned out the loud inmates, some still taunting him.

"Phew." He let out a loud breath as he laid onto his bed.

Now that he'd finally taken a break, he could already feel his body starting to ache as even the slightest movement made him groan.

{Yujiro Hanma Template: 0.7%}

It was the last thing Ace had seen as he drifted off to sleep.

…

"Breakfast! Breakfast! Wake up!"

The next morning Ace was awoken by the loud yells of a guard and the murmurs of the inmates.

Some leaving their cells as they had made their way to the dining hall. One of which being Ace as he'd followed the crowds, passing by countless armed guards as the thought of escape had crossed his mind one too many times.

He resisted such thoughts as he joined the line of the dining hall which was quickly filling up.

With his tray of food, he quickly spotted and empty table as he sat at the end and stared down at his food.

He had a fish patty, one cornbread, a small bowl of gravy and a carton of strawberry milk.

It wasn't the best lunch a man could ask for but it sure as hell way better than what he was expecting.

And just when he had grabbed the cornbread to bite into, he had noticed a shadow over his food.

He looked forward across the table only to see a very tall and lanky white man covered in tattoos with bleached blonde hair staring at him.

The look in his eyes made it seem as if he was staring at an interesting new species at the zoo.

He observed Ace a little while longer before he spoke.

"Say, just how old are you. You look like a kid, and don't at the same time. It's weird."

Ace had momentarily stayed silent as he was judging the situation in order to best respond.

"I'm 12."

He opted to give a straightforward answer before he returned to ignoring the man and bit into his cornbread, sipping the strawberry milk right after.

His body froze, as his gaze landed on the pale white tattoed fingers digging deep into his small bowl of gravy.

He followed the arm to see the same man looking at him with an expressionless face as his blue light eyes seemed to stare into the very soul of Ace.

'Ah.'

Ace knew what this was. People thought because he was new and young they could bully him.

Ace swallowed the food in his mouth as he slowly stood up.

The man leaned forward a bit as a creepy smirk began to form on his face.

"Anyone ever told you that you're quite pretty for a-"

Bang!

Before he could finish his sentence, his head was sent flying back as Ace had slammed the edges of his tray into the temple of the man.

The man had stumbled back as he held his head in his hand, his vision on his right side quite hazy.

"You fucking-"

He was once more interrupted as just after his initial attack, Ace had quickly jumped onto the table and lept onto the man who was stumbling backwards successfully bringing him to the ground.

Ace had once again found himself in a familiar position as he rained punches onto the man, noticing his punches definitely doing more damage on this man than they did his father.

"Ack!"

He almost bit his tongue as he felt himself get tackled off of the man.

His initial thought was that the guards had stepped in, but that changed when he got a proper look at his attacker.

Similar to the previous man, his body completely tatted, leaving for just a few on his face, he also had bleached blonde hair.

Ace immediately felt time slow as the man sat atop him and raised his right fist.

But there was nothing he could do as also similar to the previous man, this guy stood about 6'7, over a foot taller than Ace.

So Ace who was under him wasn't allowed much movement.

He simply raised his guard to block his face as he took the hit.

It hurt a bit more than he'd thought but he could take a few more, he just hoped the guards would interfere soon.

This went on for a small while as Ace took punch after punch, all hitting his forearms as the man didn't seem to care to aim anywhere else.

'I'm so fucking stupid!'

Just a few hits in Ace had realized how stupid he was to say he simply had no movements and could only tank the hits.

If his reaction time had been like that of a normal person then perhaps, but he had a damn cheat.

He removed his guard as he looked for the next punch.

Time came to a slow as Ace laid there waiting for the fist to get closer.

Just when his arm had extended, Ace had grabbed hold of the man's forearm, tucking it under his armpit as he quickly used his other arm to grab hold of the man's head in attempt to twist himself and get the man off of him.

His plan had only slightly worked as Ace's strength wasn't enough to throw the man fully off of him, but it was just enough to allow him space to slip out as he took advantage of the man's shock to tackle him and get on top, switching their positions.

And just when Ace had raise his fist in order to avenge himself against this man, he felt a jolt course through his body as he began to shake, collapsing off of the man and onto his side.

He had been tased.

The guards had finally arrived as all 3 of those involved were quickly cuffed and dragged out of the dining hall, including the unconscious man Ace had first attacked.

…

"Agh!"

Ace had grunted as he was relentlessly thrown to the ground by the 2 guards.

'Tch! I'm fucking 12. You all should be ashamed of yourselves.'

Ace complained as he rolled over to look at his surroundings.

It was a very dark and rough room, but there was enough light for him to see that the walls were incredibly thin, perhaps just enough to fit 2 of him.

He looked towards the only source of light, the small window, only to lose his breath the very next second.

Just a few feet deeper into the cell, he could see an old man sitting there on a milk crate.

The thing was though, the old man's long grey hair and beard was all that indicated he may be old.

The light from the window shining on him allowed for Ace to just barely see the muscles covering this man who wore nothing but orange prison pants, it seemed as if his muscles' muscles took steroids with how ripped he was.

He was already quite large in comparison to Ace in general, not to mention Ace's current position on the ground and with how thin the walls were, it only accentuated his size.

"So you're the son of my ungrateful wench of a daughter?" A low deep voice had echoed throughout the cell.

Ace hadn't even heard his words as he was in his thoughts at this moment.

"Z-Zeus?"